


Most Magical Place

by TheMikeWheelers (jasongracefully)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: AU where el doesn't disappear after season one and will is happy and healthy, Disney AU, F/M, Happy Ending AU, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 08:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8198498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasongracefully/pseuds/TheMikeWheelers
Summary: Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, and El take a trip to Disney World





	1. Road Trip

After years and years of nonstop begging, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Eleven had finally convinced their parents to bring them on a trip to Disney World. So that's how the five of them found themselves crammed into the back two rows of Mrs. Sinclair's minivan on a 15 hour road trip to Orlando, Florida. 

Mrs. Henderson was in the passenger's seat, jabbering and making small talk with Lucas's mother. Meanwhile Joyce Byers and Karen Wheeler were in the second car. Nancy and Jonathan were with them, chatting while making sure Holly didn’t start crying and make a long road trip even worse with a screaming child. 

None of the dads wanted to come. Who could blame them really? None of the moms either were really looking forward to watching several energetic kids run around a theme park. So the moms decided to bring the children. 

Meanwhile, Hopper couldn't exactly just leave work for a week, he was the sheriff and all. When Eleven found out she was upset she wouldn't be able to go with all her friends. Joyce Byers saw this, and holding a long-lasting love for the girl after all the events with the Demogorgon years ago, volunteered to take care of her on the trip. 

The ride was cramped and long, with a lot of aggravating "Are we there yet?"s from the kids. 

They left Hawkins at midnight on Saturday, pushing their luggage into the car as the kids grabbed as many pillows and blankets as they could carry to make the car a little more comfy. 

They all fell asleep, lying on each other, for a while. The moms noticed how quiet they were being, thinking that maybe a long road trip for 5 children in the car wouldn't be too bad after all. 

That thought ended at about 10am when Dustin woke up, and started slapping his friends to wake up too. They did sleep for a lot of time, but there was still 5 more hours left until they reached the hotel. 

"Wake up! Wake up you shits don't make me wait for you to get up alone!" Dustin nudged and pushed the others until they woke up groaning. 

Lucas, half asleep, moaned out, "Why the hell are you waking us up so damn early."

"Uh, it's 10am. It's not early and it's time for you to WAKE UP," he screamed the last part into Lucas's face. His mom, asleep in the front even started to wake. Mrs. Sinclair looked back at him disapprovingly, and Dustin just gave her his sunshine-y smile and she turned back around. 

In the back row Will and El were passed out on Mike's lap, who the night before had lost a rock-paper-scissors tournament and had been stuck in the middle. His head lay back uncomfortably and he stirred, hearing the bickering from the other two boys in front of him. 

Soon the entire car was awake and Mrs. Henderson was on the phone with Karen from the other car. 

The kids could hear nothing of the call except for the "Uh huh. Sounds like a great idea! Yeah we'll definitely do that," Coming from Dustin's mother. 

When the call hung up she told the boys they were going to meet at a diner off the next exit for some breakfast.

"Thank god I'm starving," Dustin yelled out, "By the way where did you put the snack ba-" Will tossed the bag towards his head from the third row.

Breakfast was normal for the kids. Will dared Lucas to snort his soda and he started coughing while the others laughed. The five all shared a giant platter of waffles and pancakes. Dustin and Mike argued that the latter was putting way too much syrup on them, which he denied. The rest sided with Dustin. 

Mike looked to El for backup, his girlfriend had to take his side, right? But even she admitted that he was drowning her precious waffles in the goo. 

Overall it was a pretty ordinary breakfast for 5 hyper children. 

Eventually, the group reluctantly got back into the cars. Mike convinced El to switch seats with him, so now she was in the middle. They spent the rest of the ride, for the most part, eating and complaining. 

The snack bag was brought out yet again and they spent the remaining 5 hours munching on anything they could find. Of course they also bothered their parents every 5 minutes asking how much longer until they were there. 

To quiet them, Mrs. Sinclair, after a few hours on the road, now sitting in the passenger's seat while Mrs. Henderson had driving duty, pulled out her old DVD player and some Disney movies to occupy the kids for the rest of the ride. 

It went on Lucas's lap and they all huddled around him to watch. He put Lilo and Stitch on and they all watched intently. About halfway through the movie they started to get distracted. The boys started asking El some Disney trivia. A few months earlier they realized Eleven had never seen any Disney movies, so they went on a mission to show her as many as they could before the trip.

"What's the name of Aladdin's monkey," Dustin yelled at her.

"Abu"

"Where does Peter Pan bring Wendy?" Now Will's turn for a question.

"Neverland"

This continued for a while, the boys all coming up with their random questions. El answered all of them correctly, until-

"What does the Evil Queen say to the mirror in Snow White?" Mike yelled, the trivia was getting quick and intense at this point.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall- Who's the fairest of them all."

Dustin was loaded with his next question, already starting when Will yelled out, "Wait that's not the right answer!"

Crap, was all El thought.

"Will what are you talking about that's what she says," Lucas groaned out. 

"No, it's not!" Will was excited, he was the one to finally catch her for not getting the answer, "It's 'Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all.'"

The group stood shellshocked, none of them had known that. Then Dustin started giggling and soon they were all laughing. 

Mike reached out for El's hand and held it up, "Congratulations to Eleven Hopper, the greatest at 99.9999% of Disney trivia." He gave his best sports announcer impression.

"Come on, El," Lucas started, "Snow White? That's the question you mess up on?! We're gonna have to watch it again tonight because of that."

El thought back to watching Snow White, and honestly it was pretty foreseeable that that was the question she would get wrong. It was one of the first movies the boys had shown her, and it was also on the day Mike had finally admitted his feelings for her and they started dating. She spent most of the movie with her head on his shoulder staring at him.

Mike probably remembered that too, because when Lucas said that a huge blush erupted on his face. El and him exchanged a look. 

"Whaaat," Dustin whined, "Why are you looking at each other like that."

"Nothing," They said at the same time, Mike's blush turning tomato-red. 

Nearly 15 minutes later, Mrs. Sinclair's car pulled into the hotel parking lot. It took a while to check in and get to the rooms. They all raced in and flopped onto the beds. 

Their parents practically had to drag them away from each other to their own rooms to settle in. Mike fidgeted and tapped on everything until his mom gave in and let him open the connecting door they shared with the Hendersons. 

After a while, the parents explained that they were going out to eat. They left some money if the kids wanted to go get some snacks and carefully explained the importance of always locking the doors and not losing room keys. Nancy and Jonathan were asked to stay close enough by in case they needed to come back. 

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin raced over to Room 4128 to see Will and El sitting on their beds. Will was watching TV and El was reading a magazine she found. 

"Finally free of parents," Lucas sang, "Okay, so what are we doing tonight."

"We have to wake up early tomorrow," Will reminder the group, "We can't do anything too exhausting."

They came to a mutual agreement to do what Lucas teased back in the car, to watch Snow White again. They all climbed into a huge dog pile on Will's bed and pushed together. 

When the movie started Mike and El looked over at each other, remembering the events of last time they watched this together. El knew that the other boys would rip her head off if she didn't pay attention again, but still, she scooted over next to Mike and put her head on his chest. 

They watched the movie in silence, except for the occasionally commentary from Dustin to which they shushed.

Towards the end of the movie, the characters started talking about some "love's first kiss" thing. El noticed that seemed to be a kind of recurring theme in all these movies: True love's kiss. She finally decided to ask what that was about. 

"What is that?" She broke the silence. 

A chorus of "What"s went through the room. 

"True love's kiss. What is that all about." 

Her answer was a series of snickering from the boys and Lucas going, "Well I guess Mike's not doing too good a job as your boyfriend." Mike threw a pillow at him which made him cackle even more. 

None of them answered her question, and eventually they all fell back into the silence of watching the movie. 

It ended and Will put on another movie. This one was called Sleeping Beauty, El didn't think she'd seen this one before. 

Slowly, starting with an exhausted Will, each of the kids fell asleep. Lucas was next, and then Dustin. 

Mike and El were the last ones up. They watched the movie in silence. At one point Mike put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. 

Then, at the end of the movie there was that whole true love's kiss thing again. El was too embarrassed to ask about it again, but Mike knew what she was thinking. 

"True love's kiss is kind of like a movie trope. Really big in Disney movies. It's where the characters kiss and it has magical effects because they love each other." 

El thought about that. She thought back to the second time her and Mike kissed, the night of the Snow Ball. There were no monsters or bad men or any threats coming for them. They were just at peace. El hadn't really learned to control her powers yet, and when Mike snuck her into the science classroom to talk and he kissed her, she accidentally started to levitate them a few inches off the ground. 

Was that a magical effect? Was that a true love's kiss? 

El liked kissing. She knew Mike did too, but she also knew he got really embarrassed whenever they did it. He always thought one of their friends would walk in on them and they'd be the butt of all the jokes for the next month. Still, it was quiet now, and they were the only ones awake and El realized she had been staring at Mike for a few minutes thinking about how much she'd like to kiss him. 

They both started to lean in when a grumble came from a semi-asleep Dustin. Their faces turned red and El put her head back on Mike's chest. Within minutes she had fallen asleep and Mike followed soon after. 

The moms walked in on the pile a little while later. The five kids, sound asleep and peaceful, all cuddling together on the bed. They decided not to wake them, to let them sleep before a busy day tomorrow. 

And so they slept.


	2. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids go to the park for the first day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a terrible writer's block while writing this so this probably really sucks but I hope you like!
> 
> (Also Hurricane Matthew had one good effect: I'm under lockdown so I didn't have anything to do other than write, which I haven't had a chance to do for the past few days)

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Eating anything other than the ears first is just creepy."

The following morning the kids started their day with Mickey Mouse shaped waffles and a lecture from Dustin on the right order to eat it. 

"So you go straight for his chin? What the fuck. What the fuck. I can't even explain why that makes no sense," he ranted. 

To shut him up, Lucas ripped off one of the ears and shoved it into his mouth, "Eat your damn ear, Dustin. No one cares,” He went jokingly.

They all laughed at Dustin's indignant expression. They ate the rest of their breakfast making their game plan for day. 

They were going to Magic Kingdom that day. They knew that meant Mrs. Wheeler was going to be out bringing Holly to meet all the princesses, so they figured it might be easy to convince the rest of the moms to go with her so they'd get to go around the park on their own. 

When they got to the park, the first thing they did was tease Lucas for the mouse ears he bought. 

"Seriously dude, those are the stupidest things I've ever seen," Mike taunted him. 

Will went next, "Please, I beg of you, don't wear those around, or else we'll be forced to pretend we don't have a clue who you are." 

Just to spite them, Lucas wore them for the rest of the day, refusing to take them off no matter their bribes. 

They walked down the street and stopped in awe of the giant Cinderella Castle. Sure, they had seen so many pictures of it, but it really was monumental. 

"Jonathan, sweetie, can you take a picture of them in front of it?" Mrs. Sinclair asked him. 

The quintet groaned but they put their arms around each other and gave their camera-ready smiles until they saw the flash of Jonathan's old camera. 

Mrs. Henderson then asked some stranger walking by to take a picture of the entire group. The moms smiled and Nancy put Holly on her shoulders while Jonathan slouched on the side.

When the picture was taken, the kids' prediction came true when the moms confirmed that they were going to go around with Holly and asked to meet them later. 

Nancy and Jonathan had been acting suspicious lately, ever since Nancy broke up with Steve everyone knew there was something going on there. But both of them refused to admit anything other than the fact they were friends now. So, expectedly, the two excused themselves from the group to go off on their own. 

As soon as they were on their own, Lucas started pushing them screaming, "Come on let's go!"

The first ride they went to was Space Mountain. One of the park's roller coasters, it was in the dark and supposed to be like a rocket. Obviously, they were very excited for it.

The inside was dark, it was supposed to be outer space so it was understandable, but that didn't make it any less unsettling. 

Especially for Will, he wouldn't admit but the others could tell he was getting shaken up just from waiting on line. Ever since he came back from the Upside Down he was terrified of the dark. He tried to ignore it, but the others always noticed his shaking and his jittery eyes. 

They all had something to be scared of on this ride. Will had the dark. For El, this was her first roller coaster. She'd never been on anything like this before and she had no idea what to expect. 

The other boys, well they all had the same fear as El, this was her first roller coaster. For the most part she had gotten her powers under control, but all they could think of was the last time they saw her scream, all those years ago when she accidentally threw Lucas. What if she screamed on the ride? They were terrified something just as bad would happen. 

The five eventually made it to the front of the line, they got onto the ride in silence, all preoccupied with their fears. 

When the ride started it was dark. And fast. They couldn't really see anything happening, just feel themselves being pushed up and down and every direction. 

But when it ended, they were laughing. Nothing bad had happened in the darkness. Roller coasters weren't dangerous. No horrible accidents had happened. Their tensions had lifted. They could go a day without their fears. Because right now they were nothing more than five normal kids on a trip to Disney. There were no monsters or government agencies after them. All that stuff had been left behind them. 

"That was awesome," Dustin yelled, "Let's go again!"

"There is no way I'm waiting on that line again," Will tossed in. So they moved on to another ride. Another roller coaster, Seven Dwarf's Mine Train. 

Maybe they should have just stuck to the Space Mountain line, because this one was almost an hour and a half. So they spent the wait how most people at Disney do, complaining about how long it is.

But there's only so much complaining 5 people can do, so eventually they started something new. Which one of the seven dwarfs each of them would be. 

"Grumpy. Definitely Grumpy. You couldn't be anyone else." 

Lucas grumbled, "That is not true! And I am not grumpy!"

Dustin shrugged, "Keep telling yourself that. Who would I be?" 

Mike and Will looked at each other and knew exactly what the other was thinking. 

"Dopey."

"I don't deserve this! I could have friends who respect me," Dustin whined while the others laughed. 

"Who's Will?" Lucas brought up. 

"Happy. Always smiling at everything," Mike went. 

"That is not true!"

"Keep telling yourself that, now who am I?!" 

Lucas chuckled, "That's an easy one. Bashful." 

"Name one way I'm at all bashful!" 

"I don't know. You just are." 

Dustin broke in, "Uhhh you are so shy when it comes to anything with El. You like won't even talk to her around us." 

Both Mike and El went red from that. El wanted to take the attention away from that so she intervened. 

"Who am I?" 

"Easy. You're-"

"Snow White," Mike interrupted. She raised her eyebrows at him. "It was just us really. And then you were the mysterious girl who showed up and things changed." 

El didn't expect him to start comparing her to a princess, no matter his reasoning. They all looked at Mike with a little confusion, but it didn't last long. They were finally at the front of the line.

The ride had a lot of turns, it jerked them around from side to side. The five laughed through it until it reached a slow spot. 

The seven dwarfs, mining surrounded by hundreds of different colored lights, supposed to be gems.

"What are those?" El asked Mike, sitting next to her.

"Diamonds. They're these precious stones that the dwarves are mining."

El responded simply, "They're pretty."

'Noted,' Mike thought to himself, and hurriedly added, 'For the future, way in the future. But still.' 

A giant blush erupted all the way down his neck. He was glad it was dark and no one could see the redness of his face and he was also glad none of his friends could read his mind and hear what he was thinking. 

Then the ride started to speed up, and all was forgotten.

The next ride they went on was the Haunted Mansion. It was creepy and weird and exactly what the five kids loved. At least, that's what they thought. 

After waiting online for a while, the group finally entered the building. There was some pre-ride thing in a round room. 

The doors slammed shut and Mike could sense the El's sharp breath. She had a scared look on but she was breathing deeply and she was trying to remain calm. 

That all went to hell when a deep voice started talking about how there was no escape from the room. It was all a part of the ride, but El's breathing was speeding up and the boy's were looking over concerned. 

Then the lights went out. Just for a few seconds, but that didn't stop El’s terror. Mike felt her hand grab onto him and squeeze and when the lights came back on there were tears down her cheeks. 

"El, El, look at me," Mike started, "It's only a ride. We'll be out of here in a second. Everything's fine."

Then the doors open and El breathed out. Mike squeezed her hand reassuringly. And they walked out of the room. 

"El and I are gonna do this ride alone," Mike told the guys. 

Dustin smirked, "You two. Alone. Dark ride. Yeah that's cool." 

Lucas smacked him, "She's crying you dumbass!"

It was then that a worker asked El if she was okay. El wiped her hands all over her face and nodded. 

Her and Mike jumped into one of the carts and she leaned onto his chest. He put his arm around her and pulled her in. 

She didn't pay much attention to the ride. Just of the feeling of being pressed against Mike and listening to his heartbeat to try and control her breathing. 

She pulled him into a tight hug. The kind of hug that spoke more than any words could. The kind that told Mike just how grateful she was to have him. 

Once she started to feel a little better she looked up at what was happening in the ride. There were different projections and decorations trying to make the place look haunted. 

Mike started to mimic the different ghosts and spirits, using ridiculous voices until she cracked that beautiful half-smile he loved. 

That smile. He loved seeing it. All he wanted to do was see her smile all the time. When she started to laugh Mike thought his heart might implode, because this girl had a hold of his heart and that laugh was squeezing it in his chest. 

By the end of the ride, El was giving him a bubbling smile and he couldn't resist but look at her and give one back. She pulled him into a second long hug and whispered nothing but, "Thank you."

The ride ended and they jumped off. Will, Dustin, and Lucas were all talking over each other asking El if she was okay. She just nodded and told them she was fine.

She stayed quiet after that. She clammed up sometimes. For the most part, she had become a lot more social, with the boys and with everyone. But there were still times, times when all the memories of the past came back to her. When that happened she tended to just stay quiet for a while. To listen rather than talk. And that wasn't exactly hard with her friends. 

They went on a lot of other rides that day. El’s favorite were the teacups. Disney gave it some weird name with the Mad Hatter, but it was just a teacups ride. The kids had crammed into the cup and when in started they put all of their combined force into turning it as fast as possible. They got so serious and vigorous about it she couldn't help but laugh. 

At the end of the day they decided to go on one last ride, Splash Mountain. It was the park’s signature water ride, with a giant drop splashing everyone on it. 

“Okay yeah there's no way in hell I’m doing that,” Dustin said when they saw it. 

Lucas pushed him forward. “Don't pussy-out, we are doing this!” 

So they got onto the ride. Mike and Dustin sat in the front, with El and Will behind them, and Lucas complaining that he was alone in the back.

When the ride started they all clung onto the bars and held their breath. At first there were a few small, teasing drops. They would all grimace and scream, only to come up red when they realized it was only a few feet. 

Then they were launched into a colorful room. They tried to pay attention to the story. It was something about all these animatronic animals, chucking and singing together. 

“La-ame” Lucas sang. 

Then the story took a darker turn. A fox had kidnapped a rabbit. Said he would bring the fox to a “Laughin’ Place.” 

A drop was coming now. 

“Oh my god I take back what I said before. This is not lame. Take me back to the happy animals.” 

“Well, this is it. It's been nice knowing you guys,” Mike spoke up.

“This isn't how I wanted to die,” Will spoke up, “I don't want to die on some death trap at Disney World!” 

It wasn't the big drop. Just another tease. 

They were in a dark area now. There were fountains splashing and there were still laughing animals. But they weren't happily chuckling, these ones laughed in a much more villainous way. 

They started going up. This was it. 

“Oh my god. I'm going to get so wet. I don't want to have to walk around in drenched clothes!” 

“Will shut u-”

Lucas didn't get to finish his sentence because before he could, they were falling. They all closed their eyes and screamed as loud as they could. 

When it ended, the kids were all laughing. Will then realized that unlike the others, he was completely dry. 

He looked next to him, where El smirked and wiped the blood off her nose. 

Part of him wanted to repeat all his mom had said before the trip. About how using her powers in such a public place could end really badly. But another part of him was grateful he wasn't soaked like the rest of them. So he just smiled back. 

The other boys groaned when they realized how wet they were. 

“Really, El? You couldn't have spared the rest of us?” She just shrugged.

They watched the ending of the story. The rabbit was okay and back home. The fox had his tail being pulled by an alligator. It ended happily. 

When they got off the ride they ran to see their picture. Dustin’s face was contorted into an embarrassing scream. Will was grimacing with a cringe over his face. Mike had his eyes popping out of his head in fear. Lucas had his head down, refusing to look up. El was simply laughing. 

“That is not fair! El is the only one of us who doesn't look super humiliating,” Lucas complained. 

“Maybe if all of you weren't yelping like idiots you'd look good too!”

The boys laughed at Lucas’s indignant expression. El didn't make digs at the other like the boys did, so when she did it was a hilarious sight. 

They continued to snigger as they made their way to the front of the park to meet their families.

They walked and laughed, all ready for whatever tomorrow's park had to bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos/comments if you liked!


	3. Around the World in One Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually really like this chapter. My writing isn't the best but it's fluffy and I think it's pretty cute!

“Stop pushing me I'm going!” 

The five kids were all moving forward on the line to enter Epcot Park. Will was in front and didn't appreciate their rushing him. 

“Well if you're going then go faster!” Lucas yelled back. 

They finally got to the front of the line and entered the park. The place was packed, they could barely walk towards the giant sphere that seemed to be in the center of the park. 

The kids, their parents and their siblings were eventually able to get around the crowd, with Joyce making jokes that they should have brought a jump rope for them all to hold on to like toddlers so they wouldn't get separated.

They walked around for awhile, until Karen insisted that they do a ride together. They headed over to Soarin’, a ride meant to mimic a flight around the world. 

The wait wasn't too long considering the park had just opened, so they made it to the front quickly. 

A worker dressed like a flight attendant asked how many people were in their party. The boys all started talking over each other trying to count until Nancy answered with a simple, “11.”

Eleven, half-asleep, still exhausted from the previous day, looked up when she said that, then looked back down when she realized Nancy wasn't talking about her. 

The worker said that none of them could go in row 2, while two of them would have to go separate in the first row. Nancy and Jonathan volunteered, despite the giggles from the kids. 

They went to take their seats. The buckled in and when the ride started their seats were lifted into the air and a giant screen in front of them started to project scenes from different places around the world. 

El watched in awe. This trip was her first time ever leaving Hawkins, she never thought much about the rest of the world. But it really was huge and beautiful. 

She started whispering to Mike next to her, asking where each place was. He gave all kinds of names. China, India, Egypt. It blew her mind that all these places were out there in the world. 

In the dark, where no one could see his blush, Mike whispered back to her, “We’ll travel to all those places some day. We can go see everything.” 

El looked back to him and smiled. 

She didn't get a chance to respond because they were cut off by snickers from the other boys. 

“What?” Mike asked. 

Dustin answered with a playful grin on his face, “Row 1 is above us. We can't see a thing that's going on up there.” 

“Nancy and Jonathan are definitely sucking face right now,” Lucas chimed in. 

They were greeted by a chorus of “Ewww”s from Mike and Will, they didn't need to picture that from their siblings. 

Mrs. Henderson then told them to shush and they went back to focusing on the ride, for a total of 5 seconds, until the image of Paris and the Eiffel Tower came on the screen and they were all cracking up in their seats again. 

“Yup,” Dustin went, “Now they're definitely sucking face.” 

When the ride ended they unbuckled their belts and Dustin and Lucas ran over to Nancy and Jonathan, giving hinting smiles that only slightly freaked them out. 

When they were walking out El walked behind the rest of the group with Mike. 

“Why did that one place mean that Jonathan and Nancy were doing something?” 

Mike wasn't sure how to answer that. “Well, that was a scene of Paris. It's a city in France. It's also supposed to be known as the ‘city of love’ and all that crap. It's supposed to be romantic, so Lucas and Dustin were joking that they must have been, um, following suit.”

El just nodded and walked along, oblivious to the tint of pink of Mike’s cheeks. 

The next ride they walked to was called Mission: Space. The boys ran to go on, when Joyce told them to hold back. They looked at her in confusion, and she said she had to talk to a worker first. 

Mike then realized what was going on. The previous night, after El had fallen asleep, the boys had pulled Joyce aside and told her what had happened on the Haunted Mansion. She was very concerned for El after that. 

When Ms. Byers came back she knelt down softly to El and explained to her that this ride involved enclosed, tight spaces and said she should probably wait this one out. Joyce volunteered to wait with her when Mike interrupted. 

“No, I'll stay!”

“But Mike!”

“Mike, it's 4 people to a team. Who'll be our commander if you don't go on?!”

“Come on dude!”

Mike looked away sheepishly, he didn't want to abandon El. Thankfully Jonathan stepped in. 

“I'll go with you guys. Come on let's go,” and they went. 

Mrs. Wheeler than said she was going to bring Holly to meet Elsa and she would meet up with them later. The other moms and Nancy decided to go on together as well, and Mike and Eleven were alone. 

They found a bench to sit on, and they sat in silence for a few minutes. That was, until it started to rain. 

Mike wanted suggest they move to somewhere more covered, but he couldn't bring himself to. Eleven loved the rain, she loved to watch it and when she could (AKA when Hopper wouldn't stop her), she loved to go and sit in the pouring water. 

The two sat there, El was mesmerized by the rain, but Mike couldn’t ignore the fact that it felt like it had just dropped 15 degrees and she was shaking. 

He took off his jacket and put it over her. She looked at him with gratitude in her eyes and scooted closer and put her head on his shoulder. 

Mike couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was so beautiful, and maybe he was sappy, but he really wanted to kiss her in the rain right then. 

He was embarrassed, their friends and family could walk out at any time and he didn't exactly want to be putting on a show when that happened. But he looked at El and she looked back and he really didn't care. 

He leaned in and placed and soft kiss to her lips. She lifted a hand up to his neck and pulled him in. The kiss lasted only a few seconds, but for them in was a lifetime. 

They pulled away and breathed in silence for a few seconds when they heard a familiar laughter coming. Mike snapped his head around to see everyone was off the ride and coming back. 

Joyce ran over with concern plastered across her face. 

“Mike, El, sweeties, why are you out here in the rain?!” She's questioned them, “And Mike where’s your jack-” 

She cut her sentence short when she saw the denim jacket El was wearing. All three fell into a deep blush. 

They tried to play in cool and brush it off. 

Mike walked over to the boys, “So how was the ride?”

Will answered, “It was awesome! You have no idea what you missed!”

Mike gave them a smile and the group moved on. 

Mrs. Sinclair pulled a series of ponchos out of her bag, the kids all groaned and refused to wear anything so embarrassing, rain or not. Nancy and Jonathan politely accepted the ponchos to try and give an example to the children. It didn't help. 

After that they moved onto the World Showcase. It was a giant area of the park, in a circle around a small lake, divided into a ton of small sections. Each section was supposed to represent a different country, decorated to show the culture. 

The moms said they were going to go ahead to find Mrs. Wheeler and soon after Nancy and Jonathan excused themselves as well. The kids gave out a breath of relief, they were on their own again. 

The first country they went to was Mexico. The building was designed like a sort of pyramid, but it was the inside that was truly mesmerizing. 

Music filled their ears, along with so many colors. There were little shops and stands set up selling small trinkets. The place was crowded and it just radiated the word “excitement.”

They walked around the area, taking in everything thing. They looked at all the shops. They admired some of the artworks and laughed when they came to funnier pieces. There was even a small ride there, they climbed onto the boat and sailed as they watched the story of Donald Duck, along with two companions, in Mexico.

When they got off the ride, Mike excused himself to use the restroom for a few minutes. The four kids walked around some more. Will commented on how much Jonathan would love to bring his camera in here. Dustin bought a maraca and started to shake it in their faces. 

When Mike was back, he was holding something behind his back. He blushingly pulled out a fake-silver bracelet with a heart on it. 

He kept his eyes down but angled his body towards El.

“I, um, I got this for you.”

He was blushing all the way down his neck.

El stood in shock. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to pull him into a hug and give him a huge kiss, but she knew that wouldn't do to help his blush, and she also knew that that was not the kind of thing to do in front of their friends. 

She realized she was just standing there with a shocked expression on her face. The boys started to giggle. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, he held out her hand for Mike to put it on her. When he did she reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it one of those reassuringly squeezes that meant so much to them.

The others were snickering behind her, and thought it seemed impossible Mike was able to blush even more. 

“Aw little Mikey, so romantic!” Lucas went sarcastically. 

Mike just elbowed him and they moved on. 

They spent the rest of the day walking around the World Showcase. They all loved admiring the countries, but El loved it the most. Mike didn't say anything, but he knew he was gonna keep his promise to travel with her to all these places one day. He imagined it, far into the future, when they were older, together they would go everywhere around the world. It was an unrealistic dream, but right now Mike couldn't care about anything else other than El and wanting to do anything to see her like this even more. 

The most exciting thing that happened to them while walking around occurred in Germany. A group of old, drunk men were walking around laughing and yelling. One of them bumped into Dustin, who turned around, without hesitation, and screamed, “Bite my ass!” 

The gang laughed at that for the rest of the night, mimicking him and teasing at his brutal response. 

They were walking to France when something else interesting happened. There was a small replica of the Eiffel Tower behind all the buildings, lit up. Flowers and gardens lined the area. It was really beautiful, El understood why Paris was considered the city of love. But that wasn't the interesting part. 

Standing in front of a lamppost was Nancy and Jonathan, kissing. The kids all stopped and stared dumbstruck. Mike and Will had the most disgusted impressions, while Dustin and Lucas cackled. 

Nancy and Jonathan heard the familiar laughs and pulled away like lightning. 

El just thought back to when they were on Soarin’, and what the boys had said when they were last in “France” and smiled to herself. The boys were pretty clever, even if they played it off in jokes and teasing. 

No one wanted to address the elephant in the room, so it left unspoken about. 

Jonathan finally took a deep breath in. 

“Well, it's, um, almost time to go. We should go find our parents.” 

Nancy nodded, “That sounds like a good idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos/comments if you enjoyed!


	4. Hear Me Roar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so basically I had no idea what to go for this chapter. Every single time in my life that I've gone to Disney I've gotten pretty seriously sick when I'm supposed to go to Animal Kingdom. So I've got practically no experience there and this chapter is written mostly based on YouTube vids and crap that I found.

The next day went without hitch, for the most part. 

It all started when the group went to Animal Kingdom for the day. It was very nature-based and the entire place screamed enthusiasm. 

The first thing they did, in true fashion to the park’s theme, was a safari in the park section named Africa. 

El remembered Africa. That was one of the continents across the Atlantic Ocean. After the events yesterday, El hounded the boys with questions about the different countries and they gave her their version of a geography lesson. 

They didn't enjoy that much, especially Mike and Will. Mike was usually the one who was best at explaining things to her, but that night he remained silent. They were still in shock over what had happened with Nancy and Jonathan. 

Nancy and Jonathan, of course, hadn't made eye-contact with any of the kids since, still absorbed in embarrassment. 

El could sense the tension between the group. The moms did too, but didn't dare to ask what it was about. 

El didn't understand what the big deal was about. They kissed, so what? She figured there must be some giant social connotations with it or something. It was only kissing. Her and Mike did it, but he wouldn't let any of their friends see. And now her friends had seen Nancy and Jonathan do it and this was what happened. 

It was all confusing, kissing was kissing. Why did they have to make it into something so much bigger?

She tried to ignore all those thoughts, they were at the front of the line for the safari. The kids and Jonathan sat in one row of the truck, with Nancy and the moms behind them. Everyone noticed Nancy and Jonathan purposely not sitting near each other. 

The truck started to go and a person in the front started talking about the different types of animals.

The truck made a clanging noise as it rushed over wires on the ground and then the animals were there. 

The kids all pushed against each other over to see out the window, admiring all the animals. 

“What is that?” El asked, pointing to one strange looking animal, “Is that a horse?”

Lucas answered, “No it's a zebra. It's like a horse but it's smaller and has black and white stripes.”

“Great description,” Dustin mocked, “I bet she totally couldn't get its physical appearance by looking at it.” 

The boys started to bicker and everything seemed pretty normal. 

She continued asking about the different animals, all the boys competing to see who could give the best answers. Mike won, obviously. 

Then El recognized one of the animals, “That's a lion right?!” She was excited to have known what something was. 

“Yeah!” Mike answered, proud of her, “You remember from Lion King?” 

She nodded her head.

By the time the ride had ended they were all laughing, the tension from the previous day lifted. Even Nancy and Jonathan were smiling. 

When they were walking out the kids rushed over to see some of the street performers. They all had intricate costumes and makeup and some of them were on stilts. 

“Will is this how you feel always looking up at me?” Dustin teased. 

“I'm literally an inch shorter than you shut up!”

The next place they went was to a show, it was called the Festival of the Lion King. El was glad she remembered that movie, but then again it wasn't really a coincidence. 

El thought back to when the boys had showed her The Lion King. It was several weeks ago and they'd spent the weekend practically camping out in Mike’s basement, binge watching as many Disney movies as they could. 

They put on Lion King and gave El a brief description of the plot. Then Mike mentioned it was his favorite movie. El had forgotten a lot about most of those movies she saw that weekend, but when Mike said that, she paid close attention, she had to. 

Well, she did make far too many glances towards Mike to see his all too adorable reactions to his favorite movie. And he would make the same glances at her to see how she was enjoying it. It was only when they would look at the same time that they would start to blush, embarrassed of being caught in the act. 

The show started and 4 people in beautiful, elaborate costumes came out and started to talk. The audience was the split into 4 sections. They were in the lion section. 

Then one of the ladies on stage called Dustin up for audience participation. She asked his name and where he was from then told him to do his best impression of a lion. He made the best roar he could and his friends were hysterical. 

The lady then made everyone in the section repeat what he did and the boys couldn't keep straight faces as they mocked his pathetic roar. 

That was done for each of the sections and then the show actually began. Four floats came out on stage each containing animals of the four sections. They were the lions, and had a large Simba float next to them. 

The show was enchanting. The music was beautiful and there was a lot of dancing and acrobatics. El tried to pay attention, but her vision always seemed to lead back to Mike. 

He was enthralled, tapping his foot to the music and watching in awe of all the performances. 

El knew all that went down after Nancy and Jonathan kissed the day before, but as she watched him get bewitched by the show she couldn't help herself with how endearing he looked. 

She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. He turned red, but all their friends were too distracted by the show to even see. 

When the show ended they walked over to some place called It’s Tough to be a Bug. That's when the day really went to shit. 

An attendant gave them glasses to wear and El asked what this ride was about. 

Will answered, “It's not really a ride. It's more of a 4D show.”

“What's 4D?”

“It's like 3D,” Lucas chimed in, “But, ya know, more.”

El decided not to ask what 3D was. 

The show started and she didn't know what to expect, but she was still surprised. Images popped out of the screen. She had never been scared of bugs, but she had to admit some parts of this show was just plain weird. 

Then she got her answer to how 4D was more than 3D when a termite came onto the screen and went to spray poison at the audience. When a splash hit the audience El gave out a tiny yelp and felt a sudden discomfort in her stomach. 

“It's just water don't worry,” Mike reassured her. She knew it was water, but that didn't stop the surprise of it all. 

She sat back and continued watching the show. There was a new bug now. And later another one, obviously a villain was there. 

The villain bug then called for a wasp to attack the audience, she expected a stinger to pop out with some 3D effect, but then the bee flew towards the camera and something in the back of her seat pushed out with a pop into her back. The kids all let out a scream at this horror. 

“Oh my god,” Will let out a sigh.

El spoke up, “I'm gonna be sick.”

“So am I,” Lucas added. 

“No, no I'm actually going to be sick.”

The boys all looked at El and were greeted by the unpleasant image of her vomiting onto the ground. 

“Oh shit,” Dustin let out. 

Mike put his hand on her leaned over back, “Are you, um, okay?”

“Yeah she's definitely okay right now Mike!”

“Shut up what am I supposed to say!”

Joyce had rushed over and was now kneeling down next to El, ignoring the boys bickering. A worker ran over and tried to help. El looked up feeling positively disgusting. 

“I'm gonna bring El to the nurse here, I'll meet up with you all later,” Joyce told them. 

“Um no we want to go with you.” The boys all started talking over each other, not wanting to leave El alone like this. 

Joyce gave the moms a look that said more than she could say verbally with the boys right next to her. She let out a deep sigh and decided to ask El. 

“Do you want the boys to come with you?” El nodded. 

They all jumped up and El slowly stood up. Other people were watching them now. 

“Well,” Lucas said, “If they aren't disgusted by bugs at least something got to them in this show.” Mike smacked him. 

A worker escorted them to the nurse’s office in the front, while speaking into her walkie-talkie about a cleanup needed on It's Tough to be a Bug.

When they got there Joyce explained to the nurse what was happening, El pulled up a trash bin and started throwing up more. The boys tried to comfort her but we're all grimacing and attempting to ignore the sounds of vomit hitting the garbage. 

El got back up and Will awkwardly handed her a tissue to wipe her face. 

Joyce was on the phone now, telling Hopper what was going on. He wanted to speak to El on her own, so Joyce kicked the boys out of the room so El could talk to her father. 

The all shifted uncomfortably leaning on the door. 

Lucas was the first to speak up, “So, uh, that happened.” 

“Wonder why she threw up.”

“I don't know Dustin, maybe she's sick and is displaying symptoms of it,” Will said. 

“Could've been the bugs.”

“She could’ve finally come to her senses about Mike,” Lucas chimed in. 

Mike went red, “Shut up!”

“Or it was that kiss earlier,” Dustin chuckled, “Probably thought back to it and couldn't control that reaction.”

Mike tried to pretend he didn't know what he was talking about.

Lucas laughed, “What? Did you think we didn't see that super obvious kiss?” 

“Mike the show wasn't that dark.” Will joined in. 

They continued teasing Mike for a while, until Joyce opened the door. She said El had talked to Hopper and the nurse and was now sitting in the back. They walked through the office and Joyce pulled back a curtain to El sitting on a bed. 

They all crowded next to her asking how she was feeling. She responded with just a simple, “Fine,” feeling awkward from the attention.

After a while of sitting there trying to cheer El up, they definitely noticed she was starting to feel better. She even cracked a smile or two. 

At one point Dustin said he was going to go get her a snack. Joyce, who figured his judgement for a snack for a girl who was sick may not be the best, told him she was gonna tag along. Then Lucas said he wanted to come.

Will stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before he added that he was going to go with them as well. 

That left Mike and El. Mike could tell that she was relieved to be left alone for a few minutes. She set her head on his shoulder.

“How are you feeling?” He asked her.

“Better. Terrible at first, but better now.” He put his arm around her, “But can we talk about something else? It's embarrassing enough.”

Mike wanted to reassure her that there was nothing embarrassing about getting sick, she couldn't help it, but he understood her frustration and just said, “What do you want to talk about?”

“How come you and everyone else are freaking out about the thing with Nancy and Jonathan?”

A pink tint went over Mike’s face. “I guess it was just surprising and weird. I mean we all joked that something was going on with them but no one really expected it.”

“What's the big deal about it though?” El voiced her confusion. 

“I guess it isn't,” He thought, “It's just kinda weird walking in on them like that. It's private.”

El thought about that. Privacy. She never had it growing up, and since she met the boys she was tossed into a very private world. In some ways privacy was important, but she also saw some people take it too far. 

Mike kept talking, “It's just awkward, I guess. At least for me and Will. Dustin and Lucas seem to find it hilarious. It's awkward walking in on your sibling’s PDA,” he saw her confusion at that, “Public displays of affection. Kissing and all that stuff in front of other people.” 

“Is that why you always blush when we kiss or do anything in public?” She lifted her head up and started to look at his eyes, he looked down when she said that. 

“Yeah, um, about that. I guess there's nothing wrong with PDA really. It's just embarrassing sometimes. And you know our friends. They'd never stop teasing us. So I guess I get kinda scared with it.”

El reached for his hand and last minute decided to pull him into a hug. She whispered into his ear, “You shouldn't be scared. But I don't care, as long and you and I can be alone every once in awhile,” she pulled away, “I like this. I like talking to you without a billion other eyes, without giggling every time we say something.”

Mike opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the curtain opening and their friends waltzing in. 

“So Ms. Byers decided none of the snacks there would be good for you,” Dustin announced, “So here, I got you a ginger ale.”

El reached out her hand to grab the soda. “Thank you.”

The friends talked for awhile, and eventually El assured them that she felt well enough to leave. They tried to badger her into staying, going on rides and stuff was not going to help. She insisted she was feeling a lot better, it must have just been something she ate. They came to an agreement that they would go on one more ride and leave, letting her rest at the hotel.

So with that one ride, of course they brought her onto the roller coaster. 

This one had a weird theme. They were supposed to be climbing Mount Everest (another thing El learned about in last night’s geography lesson), and something about a yeti. 

On line, the walls were plastered with “proof” of the yeti, which the boys were all debating. 

“It's just a hoax! If the yeti was real people would know about it!” Lucas yelled. 

Dustin screamed back, “Of course people know! All the dead bodies on Everest knew right before it killed them!”

“Or maybe, just maybe, they died because they were climbing the most dangerous mountain in the world!”

Will spoke up this time, “If Demogorgons and other dimensions and girls with superpowers are real,” he gestured to El, “Then why can't yetis?”

They were all silent to that. 

When they went on the ride, they realized this was probably the most intense ride they'd gone on yet. It was dark, and fast. It jerked them around from side to side, but didn't stop there. It went backwards too when the track stopped. This was all while running from the “yeti” as well. 

They got off the ride laughing, all except Mike. He was too distracted thinking of what El had said to him earlier. He shouldn't be scared of PDA. His friends may tease them, and he may be comfortable, but he shouldn't be terrified to show her the slightest bit of affection. 

They were walking out of the park, and Mike threw his arm around El as they walked. It wasn't much really, but El gave him a knowing look, and to them it was everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos/comments if you liked!


	5. Hollywood Heartthrob

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter of this fic. This definitely isn't my best writing, but this is the first multi-chapter thing I've ever written and I'm so proud of myself for finishing and I'm so thankful for all the support I've gotten while writing it. This fic has been really fun for me to write and I hope you all enjoyed reading it!

When the group jumped off the bus to Hollywood Studios on the final day of their trip, they all had one common thing on their minds. 

"It's hoooooot," Dustin whined.

Lucas started to complain too, "It must be like 100 degrees. What the hell it shouldn't be this hot."

Mrs. Wheeler shushed them saying it was only 83 degrees, not hot at all, to which they rolled their eyes. Eighty-three degrees, definitely not hot.

They walked through the park, grumbling all the way. Will even asked El if she could make a breeze come through or something to cool them off, but his mother overheard and turned to give him a look. 

The first ride they went on was called the Tower of Terror. They listened as screams could be heard from inside the building, from the giant drop the ride put people through. 

Mike was the first to speak when they saw it. 

"I'm gonna crap myself."

Lucas went next, "I'm gonna be sick." 

"Can you please not say that after yesterday," Will went. 

El went red. It had been determined that she just had some mild food poisoning, but she still felt guilty for the previous day. 

They entered the line, and El felt a sudden discomfort. This was based on the Twilight Zone. The boys had never shown her that but she remembered watching with Nancy one time. The show was creepy and too unsettling for El. 

 

They got onto the ride, and sat in seats on what was supposed to be the elevator of an old hotel. When the ride began, growing anxiety began to pit in all of their chests. El could feel as her heart began to pound. 

A story started to unfold, something about five people falling to their deaths on this elevator. If the show was unsettling, then this was a whole other level of terrifying. 

The boys began to inch closer to the edge of their seats in agitation. 

“This was a bad, bad idea, we should not be doing this,” Dustin went.

Will added, “I'm gonna die on this ride and it's gonna be all of your faults for bringing me on it.” 

Then the drop came. 

All of their eyes bolted shut and deafening screams rang out. El felt a lurch in her stomach that felt worse than all of the food poisoning of the day before. 

She had no idea how long it lasted, but she knew that she was glad it was over. She let out a huge sigh of relief and got out of her seat. 

“Um guys,” Dustin went, “Where the fuck is my hat?” 

“What are you talking about?” Mike questioned. 

“Ride started. I was wearing my hat. Rides over. Hat isn't on my head.” 

A worker tapped her foot, waiting for them to get off for the next group. 

“Wait it flew off during the ride?”

Dustin nodded his head and Lucas began to crack up, “Well it has to be here.” 

They spent a few minutes looking around the elevator before concluding that Dustin’s cap had disappeared without a trace. 

Dustin seemed exasperated and then Will began to laugh as well. 

Will, giving the deepest voice he could, looked at Dustin and went, “Welcome to the Twilight Zone.”

Dustin groaned at that while the rest of the kids laughed, they moved on, finally accepting that Dustin's hat was gone for good. 

Now the next place they went, the boys were very excited for. Star Tours, one of the many Star Wars themed things this park had to offer. 

They waited on line, watching some animatronic C3PO and R2D2 interact with each other. The boys were giddy with excitement. 

It wasn't until they got to the front of the line that they realized there was a slight problem. 

"Uhh, guys?" Lucas started. 

"Yeah?"

"The ride's a simulator." 

"So?" Will asked. 

Lucas gestured towards El, who had a embarrassed look on her face. That's when the boys got it, this ride was probably a claustrophobe's nightmare. 

El didn't want to make any of them miss another ride that they were looking forward to. She was dead set in her mind that she ruined everything for them yesterday, even if they would profusely deny that. She knew if she said she didn't want to do this, Mike and the others would all jump right off line with her. She wasn't going to let that happen. 

"I'm fine. Let's go." 

Mike started, "But El-"

"I'm fine," she answered sharply, in a tone that implying there would be no discussion. 

She was a brave girl. She couldn't begin to remember all the times Joyce and Hopper assured her of that. With every nightmare, every reminder of the lab, with everything that happened, they were always there reminding her how much courage she had. She was brave. She'd been through Hell and she could handle a ride. 

They got onto the ride, sitting in the back row. The doors slammed shut and El took in a sharp breath. 

The ride started and she tried to focus on that. There was a screen in the front and it was trying to make a story where they were all with C3PO on a mission. Her seat started to shake and she just fixated her eyes onto the screen. 

Mike had a boiling rage inside him. It's wasn't fair. El was so brave, but she shouldn't have to be. It's wasn't fair that she was raised by those assholes in the lab. It wasn't fair that she had to be treated that way. It wasn't fair that even now, years after getting away, they still hurt her every goddamn day. 

It bothered him so much. He hated the fact that she was hurt like that, and there wasn't anything he could do. 

The rest of the boys were having a great time. They were laughing all the way through until the end. When the ride ended and the doors opened, El sighed out a breath of relief. The tension growing inside her diminishing. 

They got off the ride and as the quintet walked out. The boys started hounding El, asking if she was okay. She reassured them she was just fine, and now that she was off the ride, now that they were all there for her, she really was fine. And she was proud as well, she did it. She got through it. 

Mike grabbed her hand and started to rub circles with his thumb when, surprising her and their friends, pulled El into a hug. 

He whispered to her, "Promise you're okay?"

"Promise."

She tightened the hug for one second before pulling away. And so they moved on. 

The group went outside to see some kind of parade was going on. El watched as people in white armor were marching down the street. She recognized them, back when the boys had decided she needed to watch every single Star Wars movie in one sitting. 

Will perked up, "Stormtroopers!" 

"Wait what is this?" Mike asked. 

"It's a parade thing they're doing. March of the First Order."

The boys all pushed each other over as the ran to watch. El walked behind them cautiously. Tons of people were gathered here now, all taking pictures and trying to get to the front, it was only semi-overwhelming. 

They had a leader too. El couldn't remember who it was, but the leader started talking. Some spiel about loyalty and what it meant to be a stormtrooper. Then they marched away as the boys watched in awe. 

"That was so cool!" Lucas laughed. 

"Jonathan did you get any pictures?!" 

He nodded his head and the boys were somehow even more excited. 

The rest of the day went quickly, the kids rushed to get as many rides and shows and stuff done as they could. Soon it was almost park closing and they started to make their way out, still talking about the rides they'd went on. 

“Okay I admit,” El was laughing, “Lucas was right. Muppets are definitely the creepiest things ever.” 

“That was definitely the most disturbing thing I've ever seen.”

They told their families they would meet them at the front of the park. The kids were making their way over their now, when the fireworks started. 

Explosions of colors lit up the sky. The boys all watched happily, but El looked on in awe. Mike realized this was probably her first time seeing fireworks. No one ever put them off in Hawkins. 

She stared up at the sky in wonderment of it all. Mike wanted to watch too, but he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. She looked too amazing and beautiful and so many words that his mind couldn't even begin to comprehend. 

The show lasted for a while, with a grand finish that seemed to blow everyone away.

When it ended, everyone around them went back to rushing around the park, trying to find something quick they could do in the little time left before closing. 

The kids continued to stand there waiting. Dustin went to buy ice cream and Will was looking through the window of the store right next to them. 

Music started to play, and it was the specific song that made Mike’s head pound. 

“And you don't know why, but you're dying to try, you wanna kiss the girl.”

Kiss the Girl. Exactly what he needed for the growing blush ghosting his face. 

He listened to the song and let all the lyrics get to him. He thought of everything El had said to him the day before, about not needing to be scared of PDA. He thought of how beautiful she looked watching the fireworks. He thought about this girl who'd come into his life and changed everything and he can't imagine his life without her. 

“Look at the boy too shy, he ain't gonna kiss the girl. Sha-la-la-la-la-la, ain't that sad, ain't it shame, too bad, you gonna miss the girl.”

Screw that. He wasn't gonna be the boy too shy. He wasn't gonna clam up. 

“She don't say a word and she won't say a word until you kiss the girl. Sha-la-la-la-la-la, don't be scared, you got the mood prepared, go on and kiss the girl.”

And before he knew it he was pulling El towards him, she was startled for a moment, but she cupped his face and kissed back. 

Their friends watched in awe, too shocked to make any jokes or teasing comments. They never expected Mike to do that, especially in front of them.

When Mike pulled away he said a single thing, that made El’s heart stop. 

“I love you.” 

Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know much about relationships, but she knew the significance of the L-word. She knew what it meant and God, did she feel it too. She looked at Mike. The boy who pulled her out of the rain, who took care of her when no one else would, the first person who ever really cared about her. The boy who stood by her no matter what and was her rock throughout everything. 

Love, the word rolled on her tongue many times before. She'd always known she felt it, but she wouldn't dare to say it. She'd learned how massive it's meaning was, she figured she couldn't say it first. What if she messed up on some more social connotations? But when Mike said that she felt the fire inside her because the boy she loved had said it to her and she wasn't wrong about any feelings she felt. 

El realized how fast her heart was beating but all she cared about was the squeezing it felt inside her. She hadn't known how long she was standing there, breathing heavily in awestruck. 

She reached up and grabbed Mike’s neck, pulling him down into another kiss. Lasting just a second, but filled with all the passion she felt at the moment. 

She was still breathing hard, but all she cared about was making sure Mike knew everything she felt. 

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos/comments if you liked!


End file.
